Agent Tolvar
by ivory-sword
Summary: A series of shorts depicting events that take place between my stories: A Game of Enemies and A Game of Winter. Aspen and Steve adjust to life in DC working missions for SHIELD and flashbacks are retold from different perspectives.
1. Moving In

**Author's Note: **Welcome to Agent Tolvar! This set of shorts takes place between my stories _A Game of Enemies_ and _A Game of Winter_ (not yet published). I will be working with a plot that will weave throughout this story but also will be adding in shorts such as when Steve and Aspen first meet from his point of view and backstories from Aspen's life. It'll be a slower project that I fill in over time. It will fill in the gap between stories and keep you going until I get _A Game of Winter_ written. If you haven't yet read my other Avengers stories, please check out _A Game of Trust_, the first in my series. :)

Please enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong>Moving In<strong>

**July 20, 2012**

There was nothing like moving to make you realize just how little you had Aspen realized as she stood studying the sparse apartment. She'd nearly emptied all the boxes they'd packed (five to be exact) and the furniture had arrived the day before. Most of the boxes had been filled with Steve's ever-expanding collection of books which now took up several shelves around the apartment. There were piles on the floor too that hadn't yet found a home. It was a new start, and she felt it rushing through her lungs. This was what she had needed. New York had begun to feel stifling and it held too many memories, some good but some bad. They'd be reporting to the Triskellion Headquarters which was basically SHIELD's main headquarters. She'd seen the building, and it was incredible. She'd been given Level 6 clearance for SHIELD which was a big jump for her. She felt the confidence that came with it too. The one thing she missed was Clint. He hadn't been reassigned to DC, and she wouldn't be working many missions with him if any. He'd assured her that it was time for her to leave the nest.

Arms slid around Aspen's waist, holding her gently. She set her head back against Steve's muscular chest, looking up at him with a smile. He smiled back down at her, blue eyes bright. He was eager for a new start too. He'd even surprised her by getting his hair cut to look more modern. Secretly she missed the old-fashioned style, but she had to admit that he looked good this way too.

"What do you think?" he asked her. "Is it home yet?"

She twisted around in his arms so that she was facing him. "I'm not sure how much time we'll get to spend here, but as long as you're here, it feels like home." She linked her hands around the back of his neck. His hands rested gently on her waist.

"What do you say we go explore a little? We've been unpacking all morning," Steve suggested.

"Hmm, I'm kind of enjoying the view right now."

He gave her a smile, half bashful, half gratified. She knew the effect she was having on him right now, and it pleased her. She leaned up and kissed him lightly, waiting for him to make the next move. In the last few months, they'd grown much more comfortable with each other. Aspen wasn't so worried about making him uncomfortable anymore, and Steve seemed less shy about showing affection for her. In response to her kiss, Steve kissed her back, pressing her closer to him. Aspen completely forgot about the new apartment and Washington DC for a few minutes until Steve gently pulled away.

"They have an exhibit for the Howling Commandos here in the Smithsonian," he said, eyes bright. "I'd like to see it."

"Wait, you interrupted _that_ to tell me about a museum?" He lifted an eyebrow. "I'm joking, I'd love to see it too." She slipped her hand in his, and they went downstairs to the garage where they parked Aspen's car and Steve's motorcycle. They opted for the motorcycle. The wind tore at Aspen's hair, but she didn't mind. She just felt free, arms wrapped tightly around Steve's waist, speeding by traffic. She thought at first she might feel stifled by all the people in DC, but as an agent of SHIELD she felt like she was in her own little society, a protector of the city even though nobody knew it. With Steve she felt like it didn't matter the people around her or the bustle of the city. As long as he was in her life and she in his, it was like being in their own world where that was all that mattered.

The Smithsonian had its own Captain America exhibit which Aspen found both incredible and unbelievable. To her Steve was Steve. It was easy to forget that, to the rest of the world, he was a hero, a legend. Of course he was a hero to her too, but he was so much more than the stars and stripes and shield.

Steve had donned the Brooklyn cap Aspen had bought him, not wanting to be recognized. Hand-in-hand they walked past the banners with his face – she could tell he was a bit uncomfortable with this – and into the exhibit. The first thing she noticed were the mannequins dressed like Steve and the rest of the Howling Commandos with their enlarged pictures behind. Her eyes went straight to Bucky, and Steve's hand tensed in hers. Aspen had only seen a few pictures of Bucky and now she took the chance to really see what he looked like. He had dark hair, a little longer than Steve's had been, styled neatly but with a little bit of a roughish look to it. His face was stern in a way that told her war had changed him, but the blue in his eyes leant a softness to him. She wished she could have known him. He was a big part of Steve that she would never be able to experience, and she was sad for that. She knew how much Bucky's friendship meant to him even still after Bucky had died and Steve had found himself in the 21st century.

An audio recording described the Howling Commandos' quest against Hydra and Steve's transformation from the small boy from Brooklyn to the hero who would take the Valkyrie into the Arctic waters to save the world. Aspen had been to the Captain America exhibit in the museum Clint had taken her to, but this one was filled with interesting pictures and recordings. It was like taking a step back in time, and she was lucky enough to have Captain America himself at her side.

"Is it hard?" she asked when they stopped at the exhibit made especially for Bucky. "Looking at your past like this?"

"Like it's history? Yeah it is," he admitted. "But I don't want to ever forget."

"Of course not, and you won't. They'd be so glad that you made it out safe and alive, you know."

"Yeah, I know. I just wish they were here to tell me themselves."

They spent another quarter hour wandering around the museum until Steve nodded toward the door. "Let's go get something to eat," he said.

They ended up in a little Italian Bistro across from the Lincoln Memorial, enjoying the summer sun. Aspen slid her sunglasses on her face and took a sip of her iced tea, looking around at the scenery. The buzzing of her phone interrupted her observations, and she looked down at the screen irritably. "It's Fury," she said to Steve, sliding her finger to answer. Steve gave her a sympathetic smile.

"Can't we have one day to sightsee?" Aspen asked without preamble.

"Relaxation's over. We need you and Rogers to come in."

"Right now?"

"Preferably ten minutes ago but right now will do. It concerns Wagner."

Aspen's interest was piqued at that. "We'll be right there," she told him before hanging up and turning to Steve. "They've got something on Wagner," she said.

"They tracked him?" he asked, putting some money on the table for their drinks.

"He didn't say." SHIELD had been keeping tabs on Wagner ever since his departure from headquarters, but so far Aspen was only aware that he'd been staying in a rundown hotel in New Jersey with no apparent outside contact. Now as Steve drove them to SHIELD headquarters, Aspen wondered if they were about to be sent on their first mission since arriving in DC. They'd hardly settled in, but she supposed that was irrelevant to Fury.

The Triskellion was on its own patch of land across a long causeway, standing as three tall sentinels over the water. Their ID cards gave them access, and they made their way to the elevator. Fury's office had floor to ceiling windows that gave them a view of the city like no other. Aspen took a moment to enjoy the view before turning her attention to Fury.

"Thank you for coming," he said. "Sorry to pull you away from your sightseeing." He gave Aspen a look that told him that whatever he had to tell them was much more important than seeing the city, but she appreciated his words nonetheless. "As you know we've been tracking Fabian Wagner since his departure from New York headquarters during Zemo's attack." He motioned for them to sit. "After he left Jersey he took a plane to Munich. We were on the verge of sending agents in to investigate when his tracking signal disappeared. There are three things that could have happened. One, he found the tracking device and removed it – unlikely, two, he went somewhere the signal couldn't be tracked – also unlikely, and three-"

"He's dead." Aspen said the words aloud though she hadn't meant to.

"And his body disposed of in a way that destroyed the tracking device," Fury finished.

"Whoever he was reporting to wouldn't be pleased that Zemo failed and that Wagner returned without him," Steve put in. "Have you looked into Munich?"

"That's why you two are here. I'm sending you in to find out what you can. See where the signal was coming from, investigate, and report back. I don't want to think this is a dead end, but it's looking that way. You'll be leaving in an hour. Pack for a few days, casual but make sure you're ready for danger. The place you're going to is a privately owned factory that's been out of use for years. Clearly there's more to it than meets the eye. You'll be going in alone so you don't attract attention. We don't know who we're dealing with so if you need backup, call it in. Don't take any unnecessary risks." He looked at Aspen when he said this. "We're sending you in alone, no extraction team. You'll be getting yourselves out."

"Yes, sir."

"Get intel, don't engage unless absolutely necessary, understood?" They nodded. "Good. Dismissed. There's a briefing on the building in your apartment. We also took the liberty of updating your suit," he said to Steve. "And your gear," he added to Aspen. "You'll find them there as well."

…

"Well, I guess we'll skip the new apartment celebration," Aspen said when they returned to their apartment. "And finish unpacking later." She eyed the piles of books up against the wall along with the unhung pictures.

"I guess so."

"Let's see this new suit of yours," Aspen said. It was laid out on the bed, a deep solid blue with the traditional star on the chest and the SHIELD eagle on one arm. The material was much stronger than his old suit. "Nice, I like it." Her new gear included a new utility belt with top of the line gear. She examined each piece intently, sitting cross-legged on the bed. Steve watched her with a smile.

"What?" she asked, looking up at him.

"You're like a child on Christmas," he told her. "It's cute."

She stuck her tongue out at him and put the gear back. They spent a few minutes in silence, packing clothes and gear. After they had finished with that, Steve spread out the blueprints of the factory out on the coffee table and they leaned over it taking in the structure. "It's pretty isolated. Ideal place for some sort of secret facility. Possibly underground."

"Do you think it's still active?" Aspen wondered aloud.

"Possibly. We'll need to be careful. We don't know what we're going into."

"We'll go in expecting the worst."

"Never hurts to be prepared." Aspen went into their bedroom and grabbed her gear.

"We check it out and then go back tonight with our gear," she called to him. "We'd better get back to the Triskellion or we're going to miss our jet."

Steve grabbed his bag, packing away his new suit and carefully sealing his shield in the canvas bag he sometimes transported it in when he didn't want to draw attention to himself.

The quinjet was waiting for them along with Fury. He silently handed them two earpieces. "Keep in touch with headquarters," he said. "I'll be checking in and monitoring your progress. Find out who Wagner was working for and see what's hidden inside this factory if anything. Your mission is finding facts. If we need to send a team in to take some people out, we will. We can question them although like Wagner, they probably won't talk."

"I'm not getting into anyone's head," Aspen said abruptly.

"I'm not asking you to," Fury told her, turning his eye on her. "Good luck."

"Thank you, sir."

They boarded the quinjet, taking seats next to each other. "Well," Aspen said as the jet took off, leaving DC behind, "it seems like we just got here, and now we're leaving again, but I suppose this is exactly what I should have expected."

"We wouldn't have signed up for this if we thought we were going to have time to relax," Steve agreed.

"That's okay," Aspen said firmly. "I chose this. And now we're going on our first _real_ mission together. I'm not counting those crazy times we ran off and got ourselves into danger or that time Clint dragged us off on an unauthorized mission and almost got us killed." She frowned, missing Clint more than ever.

"You miss him."

"All the time," Aspen admitted.

"It's not like you'll never see him again," Steve assured her, squeezing her hand.

"I know, it just seems like it." Aspen didn't have a lot of people in her life to miss, but Clint was definitely one of them. She'd left her mom behind in New York to although the last she had heard, Ava had been thinking about moving to Arizona to live with her sister. She'd been tearful when Aspen had told her she was moving to Washington DC, but she'd given up trying to hold Aspen back. She'd already planned to spend Christmas with her mom wherever she was. For now that would have to be enough.

…

It didn't take long for Aspen's nerves to kick in once they'd landed in Munich. It was like she was back in training again working her first mission. She and Steve had been working on their fighting ever since they'd learned they were moving to DC. He had a definite talent for it and learned quickly, but she was slower at picking up on it. Speed and agility were on her side despite that, and she felt more confident that she would be able to defend herself if the situation called for it. Fury had informed them they would be starting training at the start of August and not just in combat. They would be learning foreign languages, how to crack codes and interpret encrypted information, and how to diffuse explosives. The list had gone on until Aspen's head was reeling and she was wondering if she had what it took to be an agent after all. She looked over at Steve, always the image of confidence. She knew he got nervous too sometimes, but right now he looked completely calm, face set in determination. As soon as the pilot gave them the all clear, they grabbed their bags and walked down the ramp and onto the airfield. A car was waiting for them with the keys in the ignition. Steve took the wheel, and Aspen put the address to the factory into the GPS system.

Steve found his way out into the city, and Aspen had to keep herself from pressing her face up against the window to stare at all the sights. "Have you ever been here?" she asked.

"Once during the war. The Nazis had a hold on the city, but with the help of the Howling Commandos and the Army we were able to free it. It looks a lot different now without all the destruction."

"For the first time since I've worked for SHIELD I actually feel like an agent," Aspen said.

"Does it have something to do with your new Level 6 badge?" Steve asked with a smile.

"Maybe, but it's more than that. At first I felt like I was continuing Artifact's work just supposedly for a better cause. Then all that personal stuff got in the way. This is an official mission though. We're a team. There is nothing involved with my past here – hopefully, nothing to do with Artifact or crazy people trying to steal my parents' work. Again hopefully."

"I'm just glad you have a chance to escape all that. How is your mom dealing with the move?"

"She finally realized she can't hold me back. Just because I move to a different city doesn't mean she won't ever see me again."

"Has she started looking for a cure?" Steve asked, referring to the Superhero Serum Aspen had been involuntarily injected with.

"She says she is, but I'm not sure. I don't think she has any idea how, but Aunt Vi promised she'd help if my mom does end up moving down to Arizona. She understands. I'm still playing around with the idea of using my power." She touched the cuff around her wrist. It was cold to the touch, but somehow it bothered her a little less than it had before. "I can see how it would be an asset. How it might save lives. I want to be a good agent, a _better_ agent, but I'm not entirely sure I want it to change me."

"Who says it will change you?"

"How could it not? It's like relearning how to function. You understand that. When you became a Super Soldier, you had to learn to use your new body, your new strengths. But this goes beyond that. It's more mental. I'm not physically stronger, but I can do more if I put my mind to it. I am interested in learning to control it. Fury seems to think he knows someone who can help me."

"It might be worth a shot. If it doesn't work out, you can always keep the cuff on or hopefully get the antidote."

"A part of me feels like I should stay this way – for my parents' work. I'm the only living subject. I _hate_ the sound of that though. Subject? I'm not some lab rat. Maybe that's what bothers me the most. I spent my entire life working for someone out of both fear and the hope that I might learn something about my past. I'm used to letting people manipulate me hoping I'll get something from it. I'm used to people simply using me to get what they want. I don't want to be that person anymore. I don't _ever_ want to let someone use me again. But maybe with this power I can turn it against them, protect myself better." She sighed. "I've been thinking about it a lot if you couldn't tell."

"I can. I think you need to do what feels right for you. Never mind what anyone else thinks. This is your choice."

"I know. I just wish I knew what I wanted." The GPS beeped, and Aspen turned her attention back to the road. They had come to an industrial section of the city. "We're almost here. Just a quarter mile."

She watched as the factories became more dilapidated until they reached one that looked as if it hadn't been used in decades. "Hidden in plain sight. Clever." Steve stopped the car and they got out. "If anyone approaches us, we're looking to buy." Steve gave her a nod and they walked forward, looking around them. Aspen pulled out her phone and set it to pick up on any signals that might come from equipment.

"I'm not getting anything on this level," she said as they completed their perimeter of the building. "If it's underground, this thing isn't going to pick up on anything."

Steve glanced around, scrutinizing the building. He took a few paces toward one of the loading docks at the back of the building. "Tire marks," he said, indicating a set of distinctive tire treads. "And footprints. Someone has been here recently."

"Unloading something. But where did it go?" She took a step toward the loading dock. "Let's look inside."

Steve made to follow her and then grabbed her arm, bringing a finger up to his lips to silence her. He pulled her around the side of the building and a moment later she heard a door open. They peered around the corner to see a man lighting a cigarette and taking a long drag. He looked around, and they flattened themselves to the building. They waited in silence for what seemed like ages until Steve said, "He went back inside."

"Well clearly there's something going on. We'll come back tonight and see if we can find a way in. I have night vision goggles that will help us find any secret entrances."

They got into the truck, and Aspen played around with the GPS until she found a list of SHIELD approved hotels. She picked one and put in the coordinates. "Might as well keep a low profile until then." The hotel was owned by a man who owed Fury a favor, they realized as they checked in. Aspen had planned on using an assumed name, but the man recognized Steve as Captain America at once and quickly assured them they'd be safe there. Aspen was hesitant at first, but she realized that if you owed Fury a favor, you probably wouldn't double cross him or his agents. They settled into their room, Aspen flopping down on the bed while Steve took out the notes Fury had left for them, sitting down in one of the dining chairs to study them.

"Really, you're going to read the notes again?" she teased him. He glanced up, brow furrowed.

"I just want to be prepared," he amended.

"You're _always_ prepared," Aspen told him, getting up and crossing the room. She put her arms around him, resting her chin on his shoulder.

"And you're always distracting me," he told her.

"And you mind?" He turned his head and kissed her cheek.

"Not really. But we should focus on the mission. Fury is trusting us to get a job done."

"Yeah, tonight. We have hours before it gets dark. Are we really going to spend it rereading the notes for the mission?" she asked in a teasing voice. She could tell she was making Steve nervous. He got fidgety and stared down at the notes. "Alright." She backed off. "Maybe if you read them out loud we can pretend we're having a study session. I'll even take notes and memorize them by heart. Never hurts to be _over_ prepared."

Steve put down the notes and gave her a look that was a mixture of exasperation and amusement. "Very funny. I know you think I'm over prepared, but you don't have to harp on it."

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry!" She grinned at him and a moment later his lips tweaked up in a smile. He shut the folder and got up from the chair.

"I have them memorized anyway," he said, closing the space between them.

"I figured." Aspen stood still as he reached down to grasp her waist. His lips were on hers a moment later, and she forgot about the notes altogether.


	2. First Meeting

****Author's Note: ****Aspen and Steve's first meeting from Steve's point of view. :) So since I edited _A Game of Trust_, I had to change a few things in here. The only thing that you might not know about if you didn't read the edited version is that I included Jemma Simmons from _Agents of Shield_. She basically just befriends Aspen and works with her when Aspen is looking into the Hydra guns near the beginning. If you haven't seen the show, she's basically a scientist version of Hermione. No spoilers for the show, I promise. Jemma will probably make another appearance later in this story.

* * *

><p><strong>First Meeting<strong>

**April 18, 2012**

Sometimes he thought the pencil gripped lightly in his hand was his only anchor to reality. His hand moved across the page, filling in the details and structures of the cityscape below him. It was much the same and yet so different. Lights flashed here and there spelling out messages he didn't understand. The cars moved faster and the people were louder. The stark quiet of the hospital room would have been almost welcome if it hadn't been so alien.

Nothing about waking up sixty-seven years in the future was normal though. Nothing in his life would ever be normal, he realized. It was gone, vanished like it had never existed yet the emotions and sorrows were still so close to the surface. For him it had been days. He'd made a date with Peggy before taking the plane down. He didn't even know if she was alive anymore. Everyone he knew could be dead. He was alone now in a world that had moved on without him. Though he remained calm on the outside, always the soldier, he was panicking on the inside. After he'd made his escape from SHIELD headquarters the day before he'd developed this nagging fear that stabbed at his temples. He didn't know this world, didn't recognize what it had become. How was he supposed to make his way in it? The man who had caught up to him in Times Square – Fury – had told him he could stay here, that there were people looking out for him. He'd been friendly enough, but Steve didn't trust easily. He ran a hand through his hair, ruffling the blonde strands. For now he was safe. That would have to be enough.

A moment later he became aware that he wasn't alone. His hand paused on the pad, pencil hovering above the paper. He figured it was another nurse coming to check on him. There'd been a surplus of nurses lately, eager to get a sight of Captain America for themselves. So far none of them had gone so far as to actually see how he was. He turned to see who was standing there. The girl wasn't dressed like a nurse with her dark jeans and leather jacket. Her red hair hung just past her shoulders and blonde strands highlighted it in an unnatural sort of way. She had wide green eyes that, at the moment, looked embarrassed and somewhat frightened.

"Hi," she said, her voice timid. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." He studied her wondering why she was here. "I'm Aspen," she said after a pause. She held out a slender hand for him to take. "Director Fury sent me to help acclimate you to the 21st century." She bit her lip, waiting for him to speak or take her hand.

He stood, setting down his pad and pencil on the chair he had been sitting in. He took her hand, his own engulfing it. "Nice to meet you, ma'am," he said. "I'm Steve, but you probably already knew that." Normally, at least before the serum, he would never assume that anyone knew who he was. Now whenever he introduced himself, he hardly got through the first syllable of his name before someone was calling him Captain America instead of Steve. Not that he minded the title. It was just hard to realize Steve Rogers had a lot less meaning than Captain America. In fact, it held no meaning to these people who had been born decades after his supposed death.

"I'd rather hear it from you," the girl, Aspen, said with a smile. Steve looked at her in surprise. Her smile seemed genuine and the nervousness in her eyes had been replaced by a warmth that made him want to get to know her. He gave her a hesitant smile back. She looked young, perhaps early twenties, but the slender scar that ran from her eye down her cheekbone told him she had not led an easy life. Not wanting to stare, he brought his gaze back to her green eyes.

"How are you doing?" she asked and then grimaced. His smile slid away.

"I've been better," he said truthfully. There was no use feigning otherwise. Something told him she wouldn't believe him anyway. "This whole waking up in 2012 thing is something that takes more than a little adjusting."

"I can't even begin to imagine," Aspen said sympathetically. It was the first time someone had been so honest and genuine with him. Most people just assumed they knew what he was going through. He noticed the girl was looking a little uncomfortable and pulled out a chair for her before sitting back down near the window. She sat, looking out at the city below. "Has New York changed a lot?" she asked him.

"A lot of it has, but a lot of it is still the same," he said. "It's surreal." New York would always hold that bustling, overwhelming feel to it, but the technology and people had changed so much that he was almost afraid to go out and explore it. Another part of him was curious to investigate. Watching the city from behind glass for now was okay with him though.

"I'm sorry," Aspen blurted out suddenly, startling Steve. "I don't really know what I'm doing here or how I can help. I have no idea what it feels like to wake up sixty-seven years in the future. I honestly hadn't even heard of Captain America until a year ago. Maybe I should just go." She stood up, making to leave, but Steve put out a hand to stop her.

"You don't have to leave," he told her. He didn't know why but suddenly he didn't want her to leave. She was the first person he'd met in this time that had actually taken an interest in him as a person. The first to have a conversation with her. "I honestly wouldn't mind just talking to someone," he said. "A distraction would really help. Why don't you tell me about yourself? Do you work for SHIELD?" She seemed too young for that, but he wasn't entirely sure what SHIELD did yet.

"Yeah, sort of. I mean, I do, but I'm also going to school at Columbia University. I'm studying science. My parents were scientists. They worked for SHIELD for awhile." She stopped talking abruptly, biting her lip again.

"What field of science are you studying?" Steve prompted her.

"I haven't committed but I'm torn between astrophysics and genetics," she said.

"That's some heavy stuff. You must be gifted," he told her with a smile.

She blushed, looking abashed. "My parents get the credit for that," she told him.

"You said your parents _were _scientists," he prompted. "Are they no longer in that line of work?" The moment he asked that he regretted it. Aspen's eyes saddened, and he recognized the look of someone who had lost a lot of people.

"It's complicated," she replied quietly, picking at the zipper on her jacket. "I thought that they were dead, but it turns out they faked their own deaths to protect themselves and me. I was three. I have no idea where they are right now."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Steve told her, feeling shocked. "My parents died when I was young," he said. Nothing complicated about that. Aspen looked up at him in surprise. "I went to live in an orphanage when I was five," he added.

"I had no idea," she said. "That must have been hard. I had an aunt to live with, but it wasn't the same as having parents."

"It was difficult," he agreed, his gaze drifting off to the window. It was always hard talking about loss, but at least that had happened a long time ago. "I was fortunate to meet a boy who became my best friend a few years later though. He helped me through a lot of rough times." He smiled wistfully at the thought of Bucky. Even if Bucky hadn't fallen to his death, he'd still be lost to Steve. He'd have grown old and possibly died thinking his friend was dead and buried in the arctic.

"I'm glad you had someone," Aspen said, bringing him back to the present. "Maybe you'll meet someone here who can help you through all this." She leaned forward as she spoke, her smile reflecting in her eyes. For a moment Steve just looked at her, taking in that warmth he needed so badly right now. Another human being to talk to. Someone who wasn't in awe of him and didn't want to use him.

"Maybe I already have," he said. His words surprised him and he half expected Aspen to pull back, affronted by his forwardness. Instead she smiled.

"Maybe you have," she said. "Where did you learn to draw like that?" She nodded toward the sketchpad. Steve had forgotten he'd been sketching. He looked over at the cityscape he'd been drawing.

"I've always loved drawing," he said. "It was a form of escape when times got rough. When I was in my late teens, I took some art classes with my friend Bucky."

"I wish I could draw," Aspen told him sounding wistful. "I don't really have any special talents like that."

"I'm sure you have something," Steve told her. "You're good at science clearly." She seemed to doubt herself probably because she hadn't grown up with parents to encourage her.

"Yes, but I don't play a musical instrument or write poetry or draw."

"It's never too late to learn something." He wanted to tell her that there was more to life than that. Her reaching out to him the way she was meant more to him than he could say. She didn't judge, didn't pry. That was a special talent whether she realized it or not.

"If I had time. Between working for SHIELD and going to college, I'm a bit short on that."

"What do you do for SHIELD?" he asked her.

"I work in the Department of Unknown Objects. I'm the only one who calls it that. It's kind of like the Department of Mysteries from Harry Potter." He stared at her in confusion. "Sorry, it's just a series of books. A very good, must read series."

"I'll remember that." He realized that catching up on everything he had missed was going to be a long task. Then it dawned on him that he was already looking toward the future, figuring out how to adapt. A few minutes before he'd felt as if he could never join this new and frightening world and now he was already finding things to put his mind to.

"…collect and catalogue items that SHIELD obtains," Aspen was saying. Steve turned his attention back to her. "I conduct experiments when necessary and basically try to see if an object is dangerous or not and what it does. Ever since we had a Norse god and his hammer fall to Earth, SHIELD has been trying to keep objects of unknown power safely locked away. I also sometimes go on missions to obtain objects. _Used _to. I'm…taking a break from that for awhile. I suppose that's my special talent. Smuggling. I used to work for an organization that obtained objects and then sold them to the highest bidder."

"What happened?" he asked. He couldn't picture her smuggling. She looked so innocent, so young. How could someone like her wind up doing something like that?

"They tried to kill me when I wasn't forthcoming about some top secret information they thought I knew about. A SHIELD agent saved me and took me under his wing. I got lucky."

"It sounds like you've had a rough life," he said with a frown.

She shrugged. "I like to think it builds character," she said. "Or at least that's what people tell me. Somehow it doesn't really help. No matter what people tell you, it still happened. There are memories I can't forget. Scars I can't erase." Her hand went to her cheek almost unconsciously, touching the scar. Steve's eyes followed her hand.

"Who did that to you?" he asked, his voice coming out angrier than he had intended. He didn't like bullies, and he would bet the person who'd done this to her was exactly that.

"I don't know who he was," she said. "I was on a mission and something went wrong. I got caught, got hurt..." She noticed that Steve had balled his hands into fists, but he didn't seem to notice. "Enough of this heavy talk," Aspen said, forcing a smile. "How would you like to go see New York? With a tour guide this time?"

Steve seemed to think about this for a minute, then he nodded. "I'd like to get out of this room," he said. "Is Fury alright with me leaving?" His tone indicated that he was not happy being kept here.

"He told me to look after you. I don't see how keeping you locked in this room is going to help." She stood and Steve followed suit, grabbing his leather jacket from a hook next to the bed. He shoved his sketchpad and pencil in the inside pocket before he followed her out of the room, keeping close as she took them through the med bay and toward the front entrance of SHIELD. They passed several agents, and Aspen seemed to shrink, keeping her eyes firmly on the floor. Steve watched them curiously as one of them stopped to speak to Aspen.

"I thought you'd had your fill of superheroes, Tolvar. At least this one _is_ a hero this time. Be careful with that one," he threw the last remark at Steve who frowned.

"Ignore them," Aspen muttered, picking up the pace. Steve followed her, glaring back at the two men.

"What was that about?" he asked. If _that_ was the way employees were treated, no wonder Aspen seemed to lack self-confidence.

Aspen didn't meet his eyes when she said, "Let's just say that not a lot of people trust me after something that happened this winter." Steve threw her a confused glance. He'd been frozen this winter. Everything other than what he'd had for breakfast was news to him. "I put my trust in the wrong person and it kind of blew up in my face," Aspen added. "I have trust issues now, and half of SHIELD thinking I'm the most naïve and inexperienced employee is not helpful."

"Everybody makes mistakes," Steve told her. Whatever she'd done, that was no excuse for anyone treating her that way.

She threw him a grateful smile. "Thank you for not judging me," she said.

"I don't know you well enough to judge you. Even if I did, I wouldn't judge you," he said honestly. He'd lived a life full of pre-conceived notions and people who didn't take the time to actually get to know him.

"Then you're one of a kind," Aspen told him, glancing sideways at him. _Or maybe just old fashioned_, he thought.

…

They ended up in Central Park. Aspen had let him drive her car – so much sleeker and faster than anything he'd ever driven before. "This hasn't changed," he said, indicating the park.

"Some things never do change. I love coming here just to think and take a break from the world," she told him. "Sometimes things in my line of work get a little too intense. It's not like working a normal office job or any normal job really. I can't come home from work and rant to my friends about a tough day. I can't tell anyone what I do. Well, nearly anyone," she said, smiling at Steve.

"What do your friends think you do?" he asked.

Aspen sighed. "I don't really have many friends," she said. "I don't get out a lot. I have a few people I sit by in classes and study with, but other than that, I tend to keep to myself. The only people I would really consider a friend are the man who introduced me to SHIELD and a girl in the science division. Clint's away a lot though, so I don't get to see him very often and Jemma is usually really busy."

"Everyone I knew is either dead or close to death," Steve said. The words sounded morose and full of self-pity. He couldn't bring himself to care just then though.

"That's worse," Aspen replied. "I couldn't imagine. Do they know you're alive?"

"I don't think so. I don't think Fury has told anyone I'm alive." _He hasn't told me if any of _them_ are alive._

"How about your friend? The one you mentioned earlier. Is he still alive do you know?" she asked. This he could answer.

"No," he said. "I know for a fact that he's dead. He fell. During the war – World War II, that is." He could see it all again – the train, the snowy mountains, the broken metal and then Bucky falling. He relived it in slow motion sometimes at night when he was deep within a dream. Watching your best friend fall to his death wasn't really something you could just get over.

"I'm sorry." Somehow that cliché had a way of sounding heartfelt when Aspen said it.

He smiled sadly at her. "He was the best friend I ever had. It seems like yesterday that I lost him. Heck, it was only a few days ago that I was still fighting a war. Now I'm told the war is over. That we're fighting another one now." He'd learned that much from Fury. He would have asked about it more, but he was still getting over the initial shock of his awakening.

"War is never over," Aspen said softly. "We might be done fighting one person, one army, but there's always someone else out there to make an enemy of."

"But there's always something worth fighting for," Steve added.

"I suppose that's true. I'm not sure what _I'm_ fighting for anymore…" she trailed off, looking a little flustered. In their meandering, they had come to a small duck pond. A bench sat near the edge, and Aspen sat down, crossing her legs and wrapping her arms around her as if she was cold. Steve sat down next to her.

"You sound unhappy," he said. "It's not any of my business, but it seems to me like someone as young as you should have something more to look forward to." His life as he knew it might have ended, but she was in the right decade.

"Maybe I'm just tired," she said. "Sometimes you just stop caring. I'm sorry. God, when did this turn into a sob story about me? I'm not the one who just woke up sixty-seven years in the future."

"I don't mind listening," he told her. "For awhile there I forgot why I was feeling so bad." In the last two days he'd been so focused on himself – what he'd lost, who he'd lost. It was time he got out of that mind-set. He'd never been one to be selfish; it just wasn't him.

Aspen smiled. "I'm glad I could help," she said. "Thanks for listening," she added. "I don't get that much." She gave him a shy look.

He looked at her, blue eyes serious. "You said you only had two friends, but now you have three," he said.

Her smile grew. "I guess I did alright?" she asked. "I was afraid I'd run out of things to say in the first minute."

Steve shook his head. "I wouldn't think that. You're the first person who has shown genuine interest in me since I woke up. Everyone else seems like they have something to gain."

"Just doing my job," she said bashfully. "I don't have anything to gain. Just a friend." She smiled at this. "I have to say, you're nothing like I imagined. I mean, I didn't really know anything about you except that you're Captain America. But you're a lot more than that. You're a person just like me. You've suffered and lost and hurt just the same as anyone else. More than anyone else after what you've been through."

And those words meant the world to him. It was that acceptance, that acknowledgement that he was still a human being and not just a Super Soldier that he had been needing so badly. "Thanks for seeing past the name," he said quietly. "I've never been entirely comfortable with it," he added. "People keep shaking my hand. One of the doctors said that his father had been a fan. I'm just a person."

"You're a hero. I heard about what you did during World War II. You basically sacrificed your own life to save a lot of people."

"I guess I'm just afraid that I can't live up to the legend, that I can't live up to Captain America." Maybe there wasn't a place for Captain America in this world, but was there a place for Steve Rogers?

"It's a lot of pressure," Aspen agreed. "My whole life I felt like I had to live up to someone's expectations no matter what they were. Then I realized that the only person's expectations I have to live up to are my own. Other people think they know where my life is going, where it _should_ go, but that's my choice."

"I wish it was that easy." He'd never regretted the Super Soldier Serum, but sometimes he craved the normalcy of being an ordinary human.

"You just need time," she told him. "People are crazy if they expect you to adjust to the 21st century and go back to saving the world in a week."

"Fortunately the world doesn't need saving right now." At least he didn't think it did…

They fell quiet for a long while, watching the ducks floating lazily around the pond. Steve pulled out his sketchpad and began to draw almost mechanically. He felt calm when he sketched, letting himself sink into the flow of the lines as they formed a picture. He lost track of time as he drew. Aspen had leaned her head back and shut her eyes, her posture finally relaxing.

"You're really good at that." Steve finished his drawing of the duck pond and tore the page out of the sketchpad. He handed it to Aspen.

"Keep it," he told her.

"Really?" She took the page. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." For a moment the mask fell away, and he could see the true Aspen no longer timid or nervous. He found in that moment that he wanted to know that side of her. He wanted to help her like she'd helped him. Little did he know then just how much they would help each other as this new decade dawned bright and a little frightening.


	3. Night Vision

**Author's Note:** I have been very busy editing _A Game of Trust_ and _A Game of Enemies_. I am about halfway through the second and will post the edited chapters for both stories as soon as I finish with the sequel. I mainly changed the first part of _A Game of Trust_ quite a bit. Just a few different takes on Aspen's relationship with Danners (he's now more of a father figure than crazy and does not inflict any of her scars on her), and I added a couple of new scenes with her aunt. I've cleared somethings up, made things a little simpler with the plot. I'm going to post little comments at the top of each chapter summing up what I changed because it could be a bit confusing for people half-way through the story. I certainly don't expect everyone to go back and reread them, but if you want to, I think the first one is much better now. I actually ended up adding about 30 pages somehow. I'll probably have those posted within a week or so. At least before the end of the year.

So my best friend (blackinkonbluelines) has written a Bucky fan fiction (with a twist of Stucky, but very sweet and terrifically done) and has posted the first chapter! I have read the whole thing, and it is heartrendingly wonderful. Please check it out! She's under my favorite author's if you want to find her.

I feel like I haven't written anything in ages. I actually wrote this chapter like over a month ago when I was substitute teaching at a middle school. Oh gosh, that reminds me that I accidentally admitted to a student another time at the middle school that I wrote fanfics (because she said she liked writing and when I asked what kind she said fan fiction). Don't get me wrong - there is nothing wrong with that but when you are supposed to be playing the adult, authority figure and you tell a student you're writing a Steve fan fiction... Well, it's a little awkward. But she was super excited and remembered me the next time I subbed there. She asked what my favorite OTC (is that even what the initials are?) was and I had no idea what that was. I feel so clueless...

Okay, I'll let you read this. Please enjoy! I'll try to hurry up on my editing so I can start writing again. Getting pumped for _A Game of Winter_.

* * *

><p><strong>Night Vision<strong>

**July 20, 2012**

Aspen woke with a start. She'd been dreaming about being inside of Wagner's mind, and it left her feeling uncomfortable. She couldn't imagine anyone invading her mind in that way. It was the highest form of intrusion she thought, having a stranger poke and prod your mind, stealing memories that didn't belong to them.

"Hey, it's getting dark," Steve said. Aspen sat up. He was dressed in his new gear, the dark blue fabric a nice contrast to his blonde hair and greyish blue eyes. It was still patriotic with the white star emblazoned on the chest, but somehow much more modern and subtle. He grabbed his shield from where it rested against the wall, sliding it over his left arm.

"How long was I out?" Aspen asked, sliding her feet onto the floor and stretching her arms.

"A few hours."

"Guess I'm more exhausted than I thought." Somehow moving had been more exhausting than a typical mission. Perhaps it was the packing and unpacking or the change in scenery or the overall stress of the move.

"You alright for tonight?" Steve asked, giving her a concerned look.

"Yeah. I'm good." She grabbed her clothes for the mission and changed in the bathroom, strapping her belt around her waist. They left the hotel by the backdoor to avoid drawing attention to themselves. They came across no one, but Aspen didn't relax until they had reached the SHIELD car.

"Park behind one of the other factories," she instructed Steve as he got behind the wheel. He nodded to show he'd heard and started the engine. They rode in silence, each in their own thoughts. Aspen was feeling decidedly nervous. The realization that they were going in alone on this hit her. There was no Clint to back them up, no team. She glanced over at Steve – at least he had a better sense of this, she thought, but he was looking nervous too, gripping the wheel a little too tightly.

When they reached the outskirts of the factory district, he cut the lights and pulled behind an expansive factory. "Do you remember which one it is?" Aspen asked. In the dark everything looked the same to her.

Steve slid his shield over his arm again. "This way." He led her around the building, foot falls silent. Aspen followed his lead, relying on the stealth training Clint had worked on with her. They kept to the shadows though fortunately for them the moon was blocked behind chalky clouds. Aspen recognized the factory as they approached. All was silent and dark as it had been before. They went around the back to the loading bay. A heavy vinyl flap closed off the entrance giving it a deceivingly innocent appearance. Getting inside the building would be easy, but finding any secrets the building held would be a little trickier.

When they were inside, Aspen slid on her night vision glasses and appraised their surroundings. It had all the appearances of a run down factory with abandoned equipment now rusted over from disuse, overturned file boxes spilling dusty material, and a network of loose chains and hooks that dangled down from the ceiling like reaching claws. Not an optimistic place by any means. Aspen clicked on the heat sensor and gazed around looking for any signs of human activity. So far it only picked up on her and Steve's body heat. She wandered into the next room which was much the same as the first.

A door led off to the side, and she took it, Steve trailing after her. She realized she wasn't nervous anymore as she gazed around the dark building. She was actually enjoying herself and as the glasses picked up on a weak heat signature, she felt a surge of excitement. She motioned to Steve and followed a second hallway into what had once been an office. On the wall across form a dusty desk, an orange handprint glowed brightly. Aspen walked up to the wall and stretched out a hand. She hesitated. What if it only responded to certain handprints? But how would anyone else know where to press? She made a decision and pressed her hand against the wall. There was a click and a panel opened to their left.

"How did you know that was there?" Steve asked, sounding impressed.

"Heat vision," Aspen explained quietly. "Picks up on heat signatures. Someone pressed their hand to that exact spot recently. Be on your guard." As if she needed to tell him. She could see by the set of his shoulders that he was on alert. They entered the secret door and as it sealed behind them, Aspen realized there was no going back.

…

Steve's senses were on alert as he and Aspen made their way down the musty hall. He was taken back to his days working with the Howling Commandos, taking down hidden Hydra bases all over Europe. For a second he could imagine Bucky by his side, his steadfast friend. The memory faded into darkness, and he realized he had fallen behind. He hurried to catch up to Aspen, forcing himself to focus on the task at hand.

The narrow corridor seemed to go on forever, leading downward all the while. Steve was starting to feel claustrophobic when the hall finally ended with a steel door and a single light bulb. Aspen slipped off the night vision glasses and turned to him. "We need to be ready for anything," she said. "There's no knowing what's behind the door." Steve nodded. He'd had plenty of moments like that during the war. He noticed a panel next to the door.

"Looks like we need a code," he said aloud.

Aspen pulled out her phone. "Natasha loaded this program on my phone last time she was at New York headquarters," she told him. She held the phone up to the panel and a sequence of numbers appeared on the screen of the phone. "Fingerprints leave behind grease spots. The strongest is the last digit pressed, the faintest the first," she explained.

"In my day we would have just knocked."

Aspen gave him a surprised look. "Captain America telling jokes? Now I really have heard it all." She punched in the digits and the doors slid open. Steve braced himself but the only thing that met them was an empty room. A large metal table sat in the very center of the room. Schematics and notes lay strewn across the top in a careless manner, and Aspen quickly scanned them, taking photos on her phone of several papers. Steve glanced down at them. They were mostly formulas he couldn't wrap his mind around.

"I'm sending these to Fury," Aspen said.

"What are they?" he asked, hoping she understood them.

"Formulas for experiments," Aspen replied, her tone indicating that this wasn't good.

"What kind of experiments?" he asked.

She took a second to answer. "Human ones. This is complex. It almost looks as if they're trying to give special abilities to people."

"Like your parents' work?"

"The basis is similar, but this is different. This is less about the brain and more about physical abilities."

"Who would be trying to do this?" Steve asked.

Aspen shrugged. "That's what we need to find out. There are a lot of rogue scientists out there. A.I.M. isn't the only one although they've been number one on SHIELD's enemy list for awhile now. If a person has the money, he or she can do just about anything with the right equipment and a place to experiment."

They approached the set of doors on the other side of the room and found another key code panel to the side. Aspen did the same trick with her phone to get them in. The doors slid open and they entered what appeared to be a laboratory. Steve tensed, looking around for any signs of people, but the lab appeared abandoned. Dim fluorescents shed light over the concrete walls and floor. Long tables held instruments and beakers and other tools Steve couldn't put a name to.

Something had been bothering him. "You said someone had recently opened that panel?" he asked Aspen.

She nodded. "Ten minutes at most."

"I don't like this," he said, turning in a circle so that he could observe the entire room. Equipment was still lit up with power and notes lay scattered across the worktables. "Looks like someone was just here."

"So where are they now?" Aspen put words to his thoughts. She walked over to the far wall where glass windows closed off what could only be described as cells. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what the cells were made to hold.

"Oh my god," Aspen said in a hoarse whisper. She stood in front of one of the cells, a look of horror on her face. Steve crossed the room and looked into the cell, adrenaline pumping as he readied himself for whatever was inside. A man lay crumpled on the floor in the corner. His pale bare back was to them. Steve could see the spine extenuated against his emaciated body. His pants were loose and ragged, and he wore no shoes. A red sore stood out on the back of his neck, coated in dried blood and puss. As Steve and Aspen stood there staring, the man slowly turned around to face them.

Aspen gasped, and Steve took an involuntary step back. "Wagner." The man was hardly recognizable with sunken eyes and cheeks and clumps of hair missing.

"Oh god." Aspen held her hand to her mouth like she was going to be sick. "What have they done to him?"

Steve had no answer to that. Wagner looked close to death. No matter what trouble the man had caused them in Austria, Steve would never wish this fate upon anyone. Clearly Wagner had been experimented on extensively, and the experiments had not gone well. Wagner stared blankly up at them, and Steve didn't know if he recognized them or was beyond help. He opened his mouth as if to speak. Aspen stood frozen. Steve strained his ears to hear what Wagner was trying to say. As the man choked out the words, Steve tensed, realizing too late that they'd let down their guard in their shock over seeing him.

"Behind you," Wagner managed before his eyes rolled back and he slumped to the floor either dead or unconscious. Steve and Aspen whirled around in time to see something fly at them. They both ducked as a chair smashed into the glass, causing it to shatter, raining broken glass down on Wagner's prone body. A man stood before them, and Steve realized he'd managed to approach them undetected. Very few people if any could sneak up on Steve with his heightened senses.

"Impressive isn't he?" a voice called out. Steve looked around but couldn't find the source of the voice. Aspen nudged him and nodded at a speaker on the wall. "One of a few successful subjects. I can't think of a better way to test them than on you." Steve gripped his shield tighter. The doors opposite the ones they'd come in through opened and another man came into the room. The man was taller than Steve by a head and had muscles to rival the Hulk. The doors slammed shut behind him effectively trapping them in the room with the two subjects.

"Who are you?" Steve asked the voice coming from the speakers.

"One of many who will be your undoing," the voice replied.

"The Baron?" Aspen asked.

The voice chuckled. "His trail is cold. You will not find him here."

"Why do you want us dead?" Aspen asked.

"I don't care one way or another. I just want to prove that a new age is coming – that it is ready to change the world and you will be powerless to stop it."

"New age?" Steve asked.

"Much as I'd love to tell you about it, I have somewhere else to be. Take it from me, this world isn't big enough for people like you and people like me. Very soon you will find that there are no safe places, there are no allies or friends. You will be defeated then if not now, and the world will see that there are no heroes. Take them down." He directed his last words at his two subjects. The command rang throughout the room. The Hulkish man grabbed the edge of one of the worktables and heaved it over shattering beakers and test tubes. Aspen and Steve leapt back to avoid the mess of equipment.

"What are the chances of reaching an agreement using diplomacy?" Aspen asked.

Steve looked up at the two men, but the stealthy one had vanished. He whirled around just in time to avoid a fist to the head. The huge man charged at the same time. "Not great," he said, pulling Aspen out of the way. He fought back the urge to tell Aspen to stand back and let him handle this. They were partners now and super humans or not, she had every right to fight alongside him.

"What's the plan?" Aspen asked him, keeping her eyes on both super humans.

"I don't suppose your darts work on super humans?" he asked hopefully.

Aspen frowned. "Not so much. They didn't work on Barney because he'd been physically enhanced. I could try, but I think it'd be useless."

"Plan B then. As far as I can tell, stealthy isn't terribly fast or strong – not that you couldn't take him if he was," he added quickly with a smile. "You take him. I'll take muscles."

"Deal." Aspen ran at the stealthy man, dodging to the side at the last minute and striking from behind. The man stumbled but quickly regained his balance, sizing up Aspen.

Steve turned his attention to the big man. His arms were almost too muscular, grotesquely so with veins popping. He seemed to be relying on strength instead of tactics, Steve thought as he took a wild swing at Steve's head. Steve dodged the blow and feinted, striking out at the man's back. The man lurched but it was like kicking a brick wall. Steve ducked under flailing arms and struck his shield at the man's head. To his surprise, then man caught the shield. Steve stood still for a moment, and then leapt aside as the man threw the shield at Steve's head with all his might. It hit the wall and rebounded off.

"Watch out!" he shouted to Aspen as it went flying toward her head. She dropped to the floor and the shield hit the stealthy man in the face. He let out a surprised cry which was coupled with a sickening crunch. He slumped to the floor, nose a broken and bloody mess. Aspen didn't hesitate before grabbing the fallen shield. She tossed it to Steve who slid it over his left arm.

"How do we do this?" Aspen asked as the big man took another swing at Steve. He ducked and struck up at the man's chin with his shield. The man stumbled back a pace but recovered quickly. Steve had the feeling that brute force wasn't going to take him down. As if to prove this point, the giant man lunged at Steve, huge fists flailing. As Steve tried to dodge the spontaneous attack, he stumbled against some of the broken equipment on the floor. The man clipped his chin, sending him flying across the room. He hit the wall hard enough to crack the stone. Stars burst in front of his eyes and pain surged through his spine. He struggled to get up but the man was already upon him. His large hand wrapped around Steve's leg pulling him straight off the ground. The blood rushed to his head as he dangled upside down. Before he had a chance to free himself, the man grunted and fell to his knees, loosening his grip on Steve. Steve took the chance to strike the man's hand with his shield as hard as he could. The man dropped him with a howl, and Steve scrambled to his feet. Something grabbed the man around the neck, and Steve watched as Aspen pressed two tasers into either side of the man's beefy neck. Spindly cords of electricity flickered against his skin. He howled in pain, scrabbling to tear Aspen from his shoulders. She pressed the tasers harder against his skin, holding on for dear life, until the giant's eyes rolled up into his head and he fell, unconscious, to the ground. Aspen leaped off of him and stowed her tasers away. She offered a hand to Steve.

"That was impressive," he told her, taking her hand. "Thanks."

"We're a team, remember?" she said. "No one tosses my partner around and gets away with it."

"Now we just have to figure out how to get out of here…" Steve looked around at the two sealed doors. As if on cue, the door the big man had come through slid open.

"Why do I feel like we're being led straight into a trap?" Aspen asked.

"Probably because we are." Steve studied the other door but he could see no way to open it from this side. Aspen had gone back over to Wagner's cell, carefully stepping over the jagged shards of glass that had once kept him captive.

"Is he dead?" Steve joined her, keeping a careful eye on the two unconscious men.

"Yeah. What did they do to him and why?" she asked looking up at him. Her eyes glinted with unshed tears.

"I don't know. You can see where they cut out the tracker." He indicated the raw wound on the back of his neck. "It looks like they experimented on him." Needle marks dotted Wagner's neck. "Whatever they injected him with didn't work."

"Changing people the way they were trying to do is tricky. It's unnatural. Few people would survive the process especially if they haven't perfected whatever they're injecting them with. People weren't meant to be changed like this."

"Whoever is behind all of this clearly doesn't care about the lives wasted in the name of his experiments," Steve said angrily.

"Part of the reason I got out of this business when I did. In the world of studying DNA and the changing and enhancing of it, you find far too much of this sort of thing. We live in a world obsessed with super abilities whether for better or for worse." Steve was reminded of Stewart's experiments and subsequent injection he'd forced on Aspen. It still made his blood boil to think about that.

"Let's get out of here before they wake up," Steve suggested, nodding to the two unconscious subjects.

"Wait, look at this." Aspen drew his attention back to the cell. Steve looked down to see what she was pointing at. A shard of glass lay near Wagner's slack fingers. Bloodstains formed words on the cement floor. Steve felt his pulse quicken as he read the name: Strucker.

"Do you suppose-" Aspen was cut off when an alarm began to blare and red lights flared overhead.

"We need to go," Steve said. Aspen followed him out of the cell and toward the doors. There was a creak and the doors moved to shut. Steve threw his shield at them, managing to wedge the disk between the two doors, halting their closure. Aspen slid under the shield, and Steve followed, pulling the shield out after him. As soon as the shield was free of the doors, they slammed shut, leaving them in a dark corridor with only the flashing red lights to guide them.

From what Steve could see of the corridor they had entered, metal walls led forward into darkness. He felt Aspen slip her fingers into his. They kept going because there was no other way to go. He hated feeling trapped like this, playing straight into an unknown enemy's hands but what choice did they have?

The corridor led forward and then bent at a 90-degree angle. Shortly after they took the bend, they came to another set of metal doors. There was just a single button on the wall, and Steve realized they had come to an elevator. Aspen looked up at him and then reached forward to push the button in. The elevator clattered to life taking a long time to reach the bottom. They waited anxiously as the doors creaked open. Hands still clasped, they got into the small contraption. Their anxiety made it seem even tighter, and as Aspen pressed the up arrow button, he had to steady his breathing and force himself to stay calm. The lift started up, and they both readied themselves, Aspen releasing Steve's hand and pulling out her dart guns. Steve repositioned his shield.

"I think it's safe to say they know we're here," Aspen said. "Are we really that bad at stealth?"

"They could have been tipped off," Steve suggested.

"By who? No one knows we're here other than SHIELD."

"The man at the hotel knows," Steve said quietly.

"You think he'd cross Fury?" Aspen asked.

"I think that some people will do anything for the right price."

"No extraction team, and we still don't know who Wagner was working for. This is looking like another dead end. Hopefully not literally."

"We have a name," Steve reminded her.

"Strucker? Have you heard of him?" Aspen asked.

"Not in a long time," Steve replied. "Not since my time." Before he had the chance to elaborate, the elevator rumbled to a stop and whether they were ready or not, the doors slid open.


	4. Baron Strucker

**Author's Note: **So I wanted to let you know that _A Game of Winter _is underway! I've got about 40 pages written and will start posting once I finish part one and edit it. It keeps surprising me and turning out way differently than I expected, but I think that's a good thing.

If you haven't already, please check out my best friend's (blankinkonbluelines) story _Bleak Winter_. It is an amazing Bucky story that takes place during the first Captain America movie but fills in a lot of the gaps. Also I've got a poll posted for what story you would like to see from me next (probably pretty far in the future, but hopefully not too far!) So please go and vote to help me decide which to write first. Or I could just do both. I probably will, but I'd still like your vote!

Anyway, please enjoy! Next chapter is Aspen's first meeting with Clint from his point of view. (PS - if you ever get the chance to read a Hawkeye comic, do. He is THE BEST. Also in _Avengers Assemble_ he is hilarious.)

* * *

><p><strong>Baron Strucker<strong>

The elevator doors slid open revealing darkness. Aspen's hand was steady on her dart gun. Her senses were on high alert but the dark interior of the warehouse was silent and still. She could only hear her own controlled breathing. They stepped out of the elevator in unison. It immediately closed behind them and rattled back downward leaving no trace that it had ever been there.

"There's no one here," Aspen said aloud.

"What was the point of all that?" Steve sounded as confused as she felt.

"I don't know. I feel like it was some sort of test, but I'm not sure it was a test of living or dying."

"They didn't mean for us to die whoever 'they' are."

"What did the voice mean? '_I just want to prove that a new age is coming – that it is ready to change the world and you will be powerless to stop it_'?" Aspen asked.

"I don't know. Nothing good."

"The name Wagner wrote. Strucker-"

"Let's get out of here first before I tell you that story," Steve said, looking around as if he'd heard something. Aspen didn't argue. The empty warehouse was giving her chills. Something felt off.

"It doesn't make sense," she said as she followed him out the way they had come. "Why would they leave all that stuff lying around for us to see?"

"I don't know, and I don't like not knowing."

They had reached the dirty road that lay between the looming warehouses. "I think maybe it was a demonstration," Aspen said a moment later.

"Demonstration? Of what?"

"Of what they are capable of. We're dealing with people who care so little for human life that they're willing to experiment to get what they want. Those men were enhanced in a way that surpasses normal science. The work they were doing is advanced. Incredibly advanced. Whoever they are, we shouldn't underestimate them."

"Did you hear something?" Steve asked. He had stopped walking and stood still, looking back at the warehouse. A moment later it erupted in flames, the explosion rocking the ground and sending bits of metal flying at them. Steve pulled Aspen into him, protecting both of them with his shield. Kneeling under him, Aspen couldn't see what was happening, but she heard several chunks of the building clunk overhead against Steve's shield.

"I guess they weren't leaving anything behind after all," Aspen said when the worst of the explosion was over and Steve was pulling her to her feet.

Steve was watching the building burn with a forlorn look on his face. "I doubt those men made it out."

"Probably not." Aspen felt a tug of sympathy. They couldn't help that they'd been experimented on, perhaps brainwashed. "Even more reason to track this organization down and end it. I'm tired of innocent lives being taken in the name of science."

Steve took her hand. "Come on. We should get out of here."

"What now? All the evidence was destroyed. All we've got is a name and some snapshots of some of their work."

"We've got a possible informant back at the hotel," Steve reminded her.

"Right, Mr. Tattletale. He could have been forced."

"That's true. Only one way to find out." They had reached the truck and Steve got into the driver's side. He handed Aspen his shield, and she held it to her like a pillow, staring at the burning factory that lit up the night sky. Steve pulled away from the site, driving quickly back to the hotel.

The front desk was devoid of any employee, and the hotel itself was silent. Aspen immediately had a bad feeling. Steve seemed to share that feeling because he stiffened next to her. "Something is wrong."

He nodded. "Where's the man who runs the hotel?"

Aspen edged her way down the hall. All the guests were either gone or had locked themselves into their rooms. No one stirred within the building. Steve left her for a moment to search the upstairs. He returned with their bags shaking his head. "No one. I even tried knocking on some of the doors."

"We haven't tried the basement," Aspen said. "Isn't that where bad things usually happen?"

"In my experience bad things can happen anywhere, but it's worth checking." He followed her toward the door to the basement. It was closed but unlocked. Steve let her go first or at least didn't argue when she forged ahead. The steps creaked as they found their way downward. As Aspen set foot on the concrete floor, the light above her flickered ominously. She kept her eyes forward, dart gun held firmly. As she walked around the stairs, she stopped short. The owner of the hotel sat in a wooden chair a pool of blood at his feet. His shirt had been ripped off, and words had been carved into his chest. Aspen forgot to breathe. Steve joined her, and she looked over to see that his face had startled horror written across it. She turned back to the words carved into the man's chest.

**Hail Hydra**

"We need to get out of here," Steve said. "Now." He grabbed Aspen's arm and hauled her up the stairs. They were in the truck and speeding out of the parking lot when the gun firing started.

"I knew this couldn't be so easy!" Aspen said, ducking as the window next to her caught a bullet. The window cracked slightly but didn't break.

Steve pressed on the accelerator, and loose gravel skidded under the tires. They were on the outskirts of Munich but they still were drawing attention to themselves as two black cars pulled out onto the streets behind them. Traffic was nearly nonexistent at this time of night as they sped through the city but a few passersby stared at them with shocked interest.

"Who the hell are they? I thought they didn't want us dead!" Aspen said, looking back.

"He said he didn't care one way or another," Steve clarified, making a sharp turn. They continued their mad drive until they reached the outskirts of the city and the land turned to meadows and hills. They were going way too fast, but the cars were still right behind them.

"This isn't how I'd imagined spending tonight," Aspen said. "I was thinking head back to DC and sleep. Why didn't Fury send an extraction team? I guess I didn't want to question it yesterday or didn't want to ask for one. Why are we getting out of this without any help?"

"I don't know. He must have had his reasons. Maybe this is a test."

"He sent these people after us?"

"No, but maybe he's testing us to see how we get out of it."

"_If_ we get out of this," Aspen muttered. "This is a SHIELD truck right? What tricks does it have up its hood?" She played around with some of the buttons on the dash but only succeeded in turning on the air conditioning. "There's got to be something." Another round of firing hit the back windshield. She pulled down the sun visor in front of her. Instead of there being a mirror there was a screen. She poked it experimentally.

"_Initiating SHIELD systems. Please identify yourself_," a crisp female voice came from the speakers. Aspen jumped.

"Aspen Tovar, SHIELD agent," she said. It came out as more of a question.

"_Accepted._"

"Do you have any sort of artillery in this thing?" Aspen asked.

"_This SHIELD vehicle is equipped with long-range rifles found in under the backseats and short-range missiles._"

"Well that's more like it! How do I fire missiles? Wait, no, I'll stick with the guns." Aspen unbelted herself and climbed into the backseat. She pulled a rifle out of the seat. "I'm going to shoot out their tires. Or try to," Aspen said. "Do these rifles have targeting systems?" she asked the vehicle.

"_The long-range rifles do not have a targeting system_," the car responded.

"Good old-fashioned shooting then." Aspen opened the back window a sliver and pushed the muzzle of the rifle out. She closed one eye and focused on the scope. It was difficult to see in the dark, but she concentrated, steadying her breathing as if she was shooting archery. She aimed at the tire of the nearest car and fired. The bullet missed and hit the edge of the front bumper instead. She cursed and took aim again. Waiting a few seconds before firing again, she evened her breathing and heartbeat. Then she fired. The tire flattened and the car veered across the road. The second vehicle ran straight into the side, rolling the first over.

"Score, now get us out of here!" Aspen pulled herself back into the front seat. "They won't be going anywhere soon."

"Nice work." Steve sent her a smile before flattening the pedal to the floor.

"So Hydra," Aspen said after a moment, thinking back to the words carved into the man's chest. "I thought they disappeared after you defeated Red Skull." She thought back to her conversation with Clint the day he'd taken her to the museum to see the Captain America exhibit. "_You mean to say that Hydra is still out there?"_ she had asked. _"We don't know. If their technology is still out there then we have to assume that there might still be someone out there who still supports their ideals."_

That was a frightening thought.

"I don't want to think so but just because Red Skull disappeared doesn't mean Hydra did. I didn't exactly get the chance to stick around and see."

"Hydra had to go further than Schmidt. I'm sure he had a lot of supporters who would have been only too glad to continue his work."

"Like Strucker."

"Tell me about him."

"It was during the war that I first came across him. Baron Wolfgang von Strucker."

"That's quite the name."

"He hailed Hydra right along with Red Skull. He was just as ruthless too. I first met him in 1944 when he was trying his best to take down the Howling Commandos. He was ruthless and unlike Red Skull he didn't mind getting his hands dirty. Red Skull had Zola to perform his experiments, but Strucker liked to experiment with his own hands. He had this weapon he used – an extension of the arm he was missing – that had an electrical charge to it. He attacked the Commandos while we were trying to free a village at the base of the Alps…."

**1944**

Steve turned to survey his surroundings. The snow flurried around him in torrents, clinging to his eyelashes. Bucky came up beside him, snow dotting his dark hair and melting into rivulets down his cheeks. He gave Steve a grim look. "Are you sure you dragged us out here for a reason?"

"Coordinates indicate that Hydra took over a small village on the outskirts of the Alps. I'm not sure why they're interested in this village. I guess we'll find out."

The Howling Commandos followed them as they forged their way through the snow. Howard Stark had flown them in as close as he could get without alerting Hydra to their presence. They'd taken down a fair share of Hydra bases over the past year, and Steve didn't have any reason to suspect this would be any different. As they rounded on the village, Steve motioned for the Howling Commandos to spread out in the trees surrounding the base of the mountains. Bucky joined him behind an outcropping of rocks. He pulled out a set of binoculars and handed them over to Steve. "What do you see?" he asked.

Steve focused the binoculars on the village in the distance. It was hard to see through the snow, but he was able to perceive the outlines of buildings along with the distinctive sign of Hydra. Soldiers lined the edge of the village, Hydra weapons in hand. "Hydra is there guarding the perimeter. I can't see any further because of the snow."

"I thought they improved your vision before you came to war," Bucky said, his tone edged with teasing.

"Yeah, well they didn't give me the power to control the weather, so we're going to have to make due." They joined the rest of the Howling Commandos and Steve outlined the plan. "Alright, we need to take them from all sides. Hydra will try to use the villagers to their advantage if there are any left here. Civilian protection is priority. Now we don't know how many Hydra soldiers are down there or why they're down there so tread carefully. Dugan and Jones, you take the northern side. Morita and Dernier and Falsworth the west. Bucky and I will take the south. Wait for my signal."

They nodded and moved out, disappearing into the snowfall. Bucky stuck close to Steve's side as they moved toward the southern entrance to the village. The road led straight up to the village. Even though Steve could hardly see through all the snow, he was glad for the cover especially when he heard a truck rumbling toward the village. He motioned for Bucky to drop. His friend did so at once but gave Steve a disgusted look as the snow soaked through their clothing. Steve gave him a shrug from where he lay a few inches away. The truck slowly rumbled into view, and Bucky's face registered why Steve had told him to drop.

"I thought we were making snow angels," he teased softly, rolling his pale blue eyes at Steve.

"No time for that." Steve flashed him a grin. "Maybe after the war."

"Sure."

They fell silent as the truck passed. The Hydra guards went forward to meet it, speaking with the driver for a second before waving him through. The truck drove straight into the village, vanishing into the winter fog.

"Come on." Steve motioned Bucky forward and they leapt up from the snowy ground. Steve could feel the chill working its way through his suit. He readjusted his shield on his left arm, keeping his eyes on the Hydra guards. They worked their way down the incline, and he motioned for Bucky to sneak behind while he met them head on. Bucky tipped his head to the side but nodded moving silently away. Steve gave a sharp whistle. Before the Hydra soldiers could figure out where the sound had come from, Steve and Bucky were on them. Steve's shield crashed down on a Hydra guard's head. He spun around to knock a gun out of another's hand. Bucky used his rifle to knock out the other two guards. They heard shouting from inside the village, but the Howling Commandos had it well under hand. Steve and Bucky ran to join them in the center of the village. Steve saw people peering out of the windows of the small houses. They looked terrified even though the Howling Commandos had knocked out all of the Hydra guards. Dugan and the others helped pull them into the center of the village where they stood around them, weapons aimed just in case any of them woke up. Steve and Bucky worked their way toward the east of the village where the houses ended and the mountain started. Built into the side of the mountain was what looked like a temple. Hydra banners hung across the front of the building. Steve and Bucky exchanged a look before striding toward it. Steve didn't know what to expect but what they found when they entered the building was a shock. Equipment lined the walls and villagers lay strapped to cots some with wires sticking out of their arms. Hydra scientists turned to survey Steve and Bucky. One of them scurried into another room.

"What is this?" Steve asked aloud.

"They're experimenting on them," Bucky said, his voice strained. Steve looked over and saw hooded fear in his eyes. He reached out and put a hand on his friend's shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

Across the room another man entered. He was dressed in a lab coat but had the bearing of someone in charge. One of his hands was missing from the elbow down and had been replaced by a metal hand. A monocle was positioned over one eye.

"I see we have some unwelcome guests," he said, striding forward. "We are in the middle of some very important discoveries. Perhaps you could come back another time."

"That's not going to happen. You need to let these people go. We took your guards down. You have nowhere else to go. Let's make this easy."

The man chuckled softly. "Oh, I don't think I'll be going anywhere, Captain."

"How do you know who I am?"

"The costume? The red, white, and blue shield?" The man lifted an eyebrow. "All of Hydra knows who you are. I hope you don't think you intimidate me." He flexed his metal arm and sparks rose along the surface until the entire arm was letting off an electrical charge. He took a step toward Steve and Bucky.

"Who are you?" Steve asked.

"Baron Wolfgang von Strucker," the man replied as if everyone should have heard of him. The Hydra scientists behind them were hurrying to pack up papers and folders, fear etched on their faces. Bucky gave Steve an uncertain look. Strucker didn't look like much of a fighter, but as they watched, he pulled a long saber out of a sheath, tossing his lab coat aside.

"This research is important. I will not have you destroying it."

"You got this?" Bucky asked. "I'll get the villagers out of here."

"Go," Steve said. "I've got it." He faced Strucker wondering exactly how skilled he was with his saber. He held it his metal hand, and the electrical charge ignited the blade as well. Steve sidestepped cautiously, keeping his eyes on Strucker, waiting for him to strike. Strucker seemed intent on studying him first though.

"Such an interesting specimen you are, Captain. One of a kind. Well, perhaps not _one_ of a kind."

"I'm not a specimen," Steve ground out.

"Do you prefer 'experiment'?"

"I'd prefer less talking."

"Ah yes, always the soldier. Ready to jump into battle for his country." Across the room Bucky was releasing the villagers, helping them to their feet. The Hydra scientists didn't make any attempts to stop him. They huddled in the far corner of the temple, sending worried glances at Strucker. Strucker himself paid them no mind. "Well then," Strucker continued. "I shan't disappoint you." He struck so quickly Steve hardly had a chance to avoid the blow. He sidestepped and flung his shield up as Strucker stabbed at him again. There was nothing inexperienced or clumsy about Strucker's fighting. He was obviously very skilled – reminding Steve of Baron Zemo, another swordsman he'd come up against – and graceful as well, providing a certain elegance to their fight. Steve focused, knocking the sword aside and punching out at Strucker. His fist collided with the man's face, but as Strucker flew backward, he grabbed Steve's arm, dropping the sword in the process. An electric current surged through Steve's body, and he cried out, trying to force the metal hand off of him. Strucker let go, and Steve stumbled backward, his body aching from the electric force that had traveled through it.

"Hey!" Bucky shouted. He threw something at Strucker and it hit him in the back, knocking him off kilter. Steve struck out with his shield, and Strucker hit the floor. Strucker reached for his sword. Steve nearly put his foot down on Strucker's arm, but he was afraid of getting shocked again. He watched Strucker warily as he got to his feet.

"Bites, doesn't it?" Strucker asked. "Not as much as losing my arm, but now I have much more use of it."

"You think because you have a metal arm you have the advantage?" Bucky asked. "Think again." He flung himself at Strucker, forcing his metal arm against his own throat. Strucker jolted as the electricity turned against him.

"Bucky!" Steve shouted as his friend collapsed on the ground, sparks fizzing off his fingertips. Strucker fell to his knees.

"I'm fine," Bucky waved Steve off. "Finish him."

Steve hesitated, conflicted, but he knew he needed to press his advantage. He turned to Strucker and kicked out straight at his chin sending him flying backwards. A punch to the face, and Strucker was out cold, his electrical arm fizzing harmlessly next to him. Steve immediately hurried over to Bucky, crouching down next to him.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "That was a stupid thing to do," he scolded Bucky without giving him a chance to reply.

Bucky groaned, struggling to sit up. Steve placed a hand on his back to help him up. "You're welcome."

"I had him on the ropes."

Bucky grinned. "I know you did."

"Let's strap him down before we join the others." He helped Bucky to his feet and the two of them pulled Strucker up onto one of the cots, carefully avoiding his electrified arm. Bucky tightened the straps around his non-metal arm and legs, face grim. Steve knew he must be remembering his time strapped down by Zola. Anger heated his face. He looked over and saw one of the patients that Bucky hadn't unstrapped from her cot. Steve realized why at once. The patient was dead, a trickle of blood running out of the corner of her mouth. She looked young, perhaps not even twenty yet. Ugly stitching ran down the collar of her thin dress. Steve pulled a white sheet over her head.

"Horrible, isn't it?" Bucky asked. He'd moved alongside Steve, blue eyes clouded with disgust and sorrow.

"I don't understand such disregard for human life," Steve agreed. "Were there any others who were…gone?"

"No. Some weren't in good shape, but they should be all right now that Hydra's done for. I sent the scientists packing. The Commandos should have them now."

"We'll transport them back to the Allies in the truck that came in. I imagine Colonel Phillips will be glad to get his hands on Strucker." They left him strapped down to the cot, still unconscious and made their way outside where they found the Howling Commandos already ordering the Hydra soldiers and scientists onto the truck.

"You alright?" Dugan asked, striding up.

"Yeah, we're okay," Steve replied. Bucky rolled his shoulders, but gave Steve a stiff smile. "We've got their leader in there. Nasty guy with a metal arm – an _electrical_ metal arm."

"Well we'll see how he likes it when we throw a bucket of water on him," Dugan said. "I'll go get him."

"I'll help." Steve followed Dugan back into the building. Bucky stayed behind to help the others.

"Where did you leave him?" Dugan asked, turning to Steve. Steve looked over his shoulder. The cot was empty, restraints loose on the floor. Strucker had escaped.

**Present**

"So he got away? Did you ever come across him again?" Aspen asked as Steve finished his story.

"Once, but it wasn't for long. I never fought him again."

"He sounds like a nasty piece of work."

"Yeah, he was." Steve kept his eyes on the road, but Aspen could see that he was deeply worried. "I don't know if he's still alive, but after Zemo, well, I'd be stupid not to consider it a possibility. I want to make sure he never experiments on anyone else again."

"We're going to figure this out," Aspen assured him. "For now let's get back to DC, and we can look further into Strucker, find connections, figure out what to do next."

"If he's anything like the rest of Hydra, he'll carry a grudge," Steve said. "Let's just hope we find him first."


	5. The Infiltrator

**The Infiltrator**

**June 1, 2011**

Agent Clint Barton surveyed the scene before him with veiled interest. It wasn't everyday he had to investigate a mysterious hammer that had fallen, supposedly, from the sky. The crater in the desert ground was evidence of this though. The next unbelievable part of this whole scenario was the fact that no one seemed to be able to budge the hammer and it was not for lack of trying. He'd been here for over an hour watching person after person try to wrest the hammer from its position on the ground. But to no avail. The crowd kept getting bigger as news spread of the phenomenon, and he inwardly groaned. It made his job a lot harder when civilians got in the way. There was no telling what exactly that hammer could do or why it had fallen in this location. SHIELD was waiting for his observations. He scanned the crowd, focusing his attention on the people rather than the hammer. He would bet anything that there was another interested party out there. His eyes snagged on a young girl leaned up against a black Audi with Arizona plates. She had been watching for approximately the same time as he had and had made a phone call a few minutes before. She'd sensed him looking at him a few times but had not made any attempts to speak to him. Now as she clicked a few photos of the hammer on her phone, Clint turned and entered the black SHIELD van he had arrived in. He called Coulson and told him what he knew.

"There are a lot of people fooling around trying to pick it up. So far no one has been able to. Not sure why."

"We're coming in," Coulson told him. "We'll clear the site and secure it. We need to know what this hammer is and why it landed in the middle of the desert."

"Yes sir."

It took Coulson and his team a couple of hours to arrive, but as Clint jumped out of the van, he saw the black SHIELD cars pulling up at the site. Coulson stepped out of one of the cars and spoke into a walkie talkie.

It didn't take long to clear the site of all civilians once SHIELD pulled in. At the sight of the black government cars, most of the people got into their cars and drove away. The girl Clint had observed earlier left as well, and he wondered if he had been wrong about her. His instincts were hardly ever off though. He had a feeling he would be seeing her again. He stepped forward to greet Coulson.

"Barton," the other agent greeted him.

"Any idea what we're dealing with?" Clint asked, nodding toward the hammer.

"Not a clue," Coulson replied. "But I hope to find out."

Clint knew that Coulson was crazy for anything historical and as they took a closer look at the hammer, Clint saw that it had Scandinavian markings inlaid in the metal. He wondered if it was some sort of ancient relic.

"Any other interested parties?" Coulson asked.

"Mostly locals, but there was one girl who stood out. Arizona plates."

"Think she'll try to come back?"

"Possibly."

"Good. You can question her then. If you get the chance, get a tracking device on her. She'll lead us back to whom she works for. We want to make sure we don't have any trouble."

"Yes, sir."

Coulson had his crew start setting up. They would work around the hammer if they couldn't move it. Clint watched Coulson run his hand down the handle of the hammer, but he didn't try to lift it. Clint decided to do what he did best and found somewhere to perch on the rim of the crater, watching as the SHIELD agents set up their make-shift research facility.

…

He had expected her to come at night, the girl who'd been trying hard not to stand out earlier that day. He didn't know who she worked for, but no one slipped past him and she _nearly_ had. That she'd made it as far as she had was impressive but it was time to end this little game. Clint brought a gun to the girl's temple as she observed the scene at the bottom of the crater. She hadn't heard him come up behind her but she stiffened the second the cold tip of the gun met with her skin.

"Don't move," he told her. "I'm going to count to three, and you're going to stand. Reach for a weapon, and I shoot." She nodded to show she understood, and he started counting. "One. Two. Three." She got slowly to her feet, putting her hands out to the side. Clint kept the gun pressed against her temple as he relieved her of her weapons. Two dart guns and a knife. He shoved them in his pocket wondering just who she was. Not many agents he knew – SHIELD or otherwise – carried around dart guns. That told him that she didn't like casualties either by choice or by order. She'd clearly had some training if she'd snuck past the perimeter guards.

"Alright," he told her. "Turn around and face me." She turned, her green eyes visible even in the darkness. "Who are you?" he asked. "Who do you work for?"

"I could ask you the same question," she said, her voice giving away no hint of fear. Most people would show more emotion at having a gun pressed to their head. She didn't blink because she knew he wouldn't shoot her.

"Except I'm the one who caught you snooping around our set up. You don't get to ask the questions," he told her.

"Just because you have a gun pointed at my head doesn't mean I'll answer your questions," she said, tipping her head to one side. "I don't see why I should if I have no idea who you are."

She was testing him now, and Clint had to admire her technique. Let her play her little game. As they stood there in the darkness something cold and wet hit Clint on the top of the head and then his cheek. It began to rain, thunder rumbling somewhere to the west.

"Can we at least go somewhere dry if you're insistent on interrogating me?" the girl asked. Clint wasn't too keen on getting soaked so he jerked his gun toward the SHIELD van parked a few feet away.

"In there," he told her, pointing to the van. "You go first. Don't try to run, I'm a good shot." Instead of showing any signs of anxiety, she sighed, striding toward the van with no complaint and sliding in. He followed her, gun still aimed at the back of her head. He shut the van door behind him and turned to survey the infiltrator.

She had to be no older than twenty though she could have pulled off younger with her pale face and innocent looking eyes. Her red hair was a striking contrast to her pale skin. If he hadn't just caught her trying to infiltrate the SHIELD base with two dart guns and a knife, he wouldn't suspect her of working for an organization from looks alone – except the scar that ran from her eye partway down her cheek. It was faded as if she had received it some years before, but it still stood out. He wondered how she got it. Another sign that she wasn't just an average girl was how shrewd her eyes were. In that moment he knew that she was sizing him up just as he was observing her.

"Have a seat," he told her, motioning to a swivel chair that sat across from him. She sat, wiping her rain-dampened hands on her jeans. He pulled the knife and dart guns from his pocket and set them down behind him. The girl simply cocked her head, waiting for him to speak. Clint sat down across from her, setting the gun on his lap. If she tried anything he could have it up in a second, but his thoughts flitted back to the dart guns, and he knew she wouldn't try to hurt him.

"How about we start with your name."

"Will you tell me yours if I tell you mine?" she asked. Why was everything coming out of her mouth a question and not an answer?

Clint sighed, trying to keep his impatience in check. "Fine."

"Aspen," she replied promptly.

"Aspen what?"

"Why do you need to know?" Another question, one he decided not to answer. "What about your name?" she asked a second later.

"Last name first." If he could at least pry her whole name out of her, he'd have accomplished something.

She sighed again. "Fine, Tolvar."

"Barton," he offered her.

"Is that your first or last name?" she asked him.

"It's all you get." She frowned at this, but Clint moved onto the next subject. "I saw you earlier."

"I thought I'd check out the thing that everyone was so excited about. I got curious after you guys showed up."

"So you're just a curious tourist armed with two dart guns and a knife?" He picked up one of the dart guns to study it closer. It wasn't some cheap weapon that anyone could get their hands on. This was something the professionals used. While he inspected the gun he slid a small tracking device on the side so quickly that the girl wouldn't notice. "These are advanced," he said aloud. "Not the kind of thing you could buy at Cabela's."

"Well unless you plan on torturing me to find out any more, I don't see any reason why I should keep talking."

She spoke of torture casually, and he would bet whomever she worked for had puffed up her confidence until she thought she was near invincible. He would say she'd never felt pain, never been threatened, but the scar below her eye said otherwise. She still brushed it off with practiced skill.

"Who do you work for?" Clint asked her.

"What makes you think I work for anyone? It's a free country."

"You're just a foot soldier," Clint said. "You're not working on your own." Someone had given her those guns and someone had given her that scar.

She sent him a glare. "How would you know that?"

"Trust me. I know the look of someone who's taking orders. You made a call when you were here earlier. Was it to your boss? Why is he interested in the hammer?"

"Why wouldn't someone be interested in something like that?" she countered.

"Either he wants it for money or to study it. Which is it?" She narrowed her eyes, and he knew he'd hit close to the mark.

"Why are _you_ keeping it? It's not yours. Unless you're secretly a battle dwarf out of Middle Earth." She scanned him. "Nope, too tall."

Clint resisted the urge to let his eye twitch. He was getting too old to be patient with teenagers. "I'm asking the questions. Look, it takes a lot more than a curious reporter to slip past our guards. Clearly you're highly trained. You're either trying to steal it so that your boss can study it or you're trying to steal it so that he can sell it to the highest bidder. We can do this all night."

"What does it matter?" she asked, deflating a little. "I don't have any way to get it. Cleary it's impossible to lift for some strange reason as we saw earlier."

Clint didn't mean to sigh, but his frustration was slipping out. Time to break some of that cockiness and show her who had the upper hand. "Look Tolvar, either you start talking or we do this the hard way and I detain you and keep you locked up until you tell us what your MO is."

The girl clamped her lips together stubbornly, and Clint furrowed his brows in frustration. Clearly he was going to get nowhere with her if he started giving her orders. Before he had the chance to speak further, his headset buzzed to life and Coulson's voice came on the line.

"Barton, we need you. We've got a perimeter breach, and he's plowing through our agents like they're paper dolls."

"I'm on it," Clint replied. He turned to the girl. "We'll finish this later, but we _will _finish this." He grabbed a set of handcuffs from a drawer. The girl rolled her eyes, but he cuffed her to the chair. "Don't move." He put a hand on a rifle but then his hands slid to his trusty recurve bow. He snapped it straight and opened the door to the van, leaping out onto the now muddy ground and running toward a lift that would give him a bird's eye view of the scene.

…

"Did she escape?" Agent Coulson asked Agent Clint Barton after the mysterious blonde intruder had been contained and given an initial interrogation.

"Yes, sir, she took her dart guns back, so the tracking device should be active."

"Good. We need to find out who she's working for. You said her name was Tolvar?"

"That's what she told me. I'm not sure if she was telling the truth. Stubborn thing." In truth she reminded him of Natasha with her red hair and spunk.

"The name sounds familiar," Coulson said thoughtfully. "I'll look into it after I finish up with our guest. Track her back to wherever she came from. Take her in if you need to. I'll be in touch."

"Yes, sir."

…

The girl stopped at a hotel in a small town outside of Puente Antiguo, but she didn't stay for long. Clint watched from his car as she rushed out of the room she had rented, getting into her car and taking off. He waited a few minutes before following, his GPS tracking her. Something had got her scared. She was either running from something or hurrying to get back to something.

Coulson called him halfway through the night. "Sir?"

"Aspen Tolvar is daughter to the famous scientists Ava and Gregor Tolvar who were working on a brain stimulant serum. They died in 1994 in an explosion. They were SHIELD for a few years. She's lived with her aunt in Arizona ever since. Her aunt was SHIELD too for awhile until her sister and brother-in-law died."

"So why would the girl be interested in this hammer?" Clint asked. "She's not SHIELD."

"That's not all. Two years ago Tolvar started working for an organization called ARTIFACT." Clint cursed. He'd faced several ARTIFACT agents during his time at SHIELD. "As you know, they acquire dangerous items of questionable origin by whatever means possible. She's a smuggler, Barton. From what I could gather, Joseph Danners, head of the organization, took her under his wing. He knew her parents. Whatever reason he took her in, it wasn't charity. I have a feeling he thinks Aspen might have some valuable information concerning her parents' research whether she's aware of it or not. Aspen's parents worked with Danners before he went criminal. He's aware of their research. They started working for us to get protection. They feared what Danners might do if he got his hands on their work. Work with that angle. Danners used to be in the military armor business until he sold up and went underground. He's on SHIELD's top enemy list only he's been impossible to touch. This might be our chance. Follow her and send for reinforcement once you find out if she's headed toward ARTIFACT headquarters."

"You still want me to take her in?" Clint asked.

Coulson was quiet for a minute. "She's just a kid way in over her head. Give her a chance."

"Offer her a job?"

"I'll let that be your call. She has a three year contract with ARTIFACT, but I have a feeling Danners isn't going to let her just go. We might be the only ones who can protect her. Also, one more thing. Find Danners's office and find me a file. It'll be somewhere close to his desk. It will be labeled…" He read off the name, and Clint nodded. "Be careful, he knows all about SHIELD. He's been hiding from us for years."

"Yes, sir."

After Coulson hung up, Clint found himself thinking about the girl as a SHIELD agent. He had to admit he could see it. She had some skill and she wasn't tied down to ARTIFACT emotionally other than the connection to her parents as far as he could see. But her parents had been SHIELD too. Clint had the feeling that Danners wouldn't make any sacrifices for her.

It was a long drive but when it ended, he found himself in Phoenix, Arizona. The girl's plates had been from that county, so he assumed that was where she worked. She ended up at a two-story house where she spent fifteen minutes before appearing again. She looked harried and got into her car quickly. He followed her to an apartment building where she went in and did not come out again. He saw a light go on in a second story apartment and saw movement behind the curtains. Eventually the light went off, and he assumed she had gone to bed (they had been driving all night after all). As soon as she set foot outside again, they were going to have a nice long chat.

…

He managed to doze off for a few hours, waking when a garbage truck went by on the street. He got out of his car and stretched his arms. He noticed that the light was back on in the girl's apartment and strode over to her Audi to wait for her. It took her ten minutes to come outside and head toward her car. She stopped short when she saw him, surprise widening her green eyes.

"Oh," was all she said.

"You took something that didn't belong to you," he said. A file had gone missing from his van – some of Jane Foster's work that Coulson had confiscated. He didn't think it was important – they had copies, but he also didn't want it falling into the wrong hands. "And I think I know who you are now," he continued.

"Oh?" she asked.

"A smuggler. You steal things for your boss and he sells them to the highest bidder. We're aware of such organizations out there, you know."

"Well, he's aware of you too," the girl replied, looking unfazed.

"I would hope so. We're his worst nightmare."

"Well he has the folder, and I can't get it back, so you're out of luck," she said. Clint could tell she was lying.

"The file belonged to Doctor Jane Foster, but we have copies of the documents," he told her, shrugging it off.

"Then why are you here?"

"I'm here to offer you a deal," he said. She had potential; he had seen it right away. He also knew when someone's heart wasn't in a job. She would have reported in right away if she was deeply entrenched in ARTIFACT. Instead she'd gone to speak with someone – a relative? – and got some sleep. She didn't seem overly frightened of Clint or SHIELD.

"What kind of deal?" she asked.

"My agency sent me to get you out of our hair," he told her, gauging her reaction.

"To kill me?" She lifted an eyebrow.

Clint shrugged. "They made it my call. But no, I don't typically knock off teenagers who pilfer."

She glared at him. "So what are you going to do?"

"I told you. I'm going to make you an offer. You come work for us. Use your skills for a better purpose." He had a feeling Coulson would like the girl. She was spunky.

"I don't even know who you work for. How am I supposed to know that my skills would be going to a better purpose?" she asked.

"You think your boss has a good purpose for those things he has you steal?" Clint asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"All I know is that the people we're taking them from definitely do not have good intentions. We're keeping them safe. It's not my job to judge or ask questions."

"No, you're just a smuggler." He was baiting her, and it worked.

"I'm a damn good one," she said defensively, confirming what he already knew.

"We have your file, Aspen," he said, using her first name. "And we know all about Joseph Danners and ARTIFACT. I could tell you stories about him that would curl your hair." Okay, maybe not, but he knew Danners was shady.

Aspen frowned. "My parents worked for him. They wouldn't have worked for a criminal." Her voice lacked conviction, and he knew he had her.

"Ava and Gregor Tolvar? They worked for us," he said. "Danners double-crossed them. He's bluffing if he said differently. He wants something from you."

"What? How did he double-cross them? He said they were friends." She had let her guard down now, her voice giving away her doubt.

"And you believed him? He thinks you have knowledge of what they were working on before they died. He wants that information. Whatever he told you about them was most likely a lie." A serum like that or at least hard-copies of research would sell for a very high price.

"I was three when they died. What would I know?"

"He thinks your parents might have hidden their work with you somehow." Somewhat of a guess, but it made sense.

"Well I don't have it." He couldn't tell if she was lying or telling the truth.

"We can keep you safe. Believe me. Danners is just going to use you. He's not going to let you out of your contract. Not until he gets what he wants, and we don't want that."

"How can I trust you?" she asked accusingly. "I don't even know who you are or who you work for."

"You can't. I won't make any promises, but I can tell you that I believe we do the right thing. ARTIFACT doesn't."

Aspen shut her eyes, thinking it over. He could tell she was considering it. She looked at hm. "Will you give me a chance to think about it?" she asked. There was fear and uncertainty written across her face. She needed proof of Danners's treachery before she believed him fully. Clint sighed inwardly. This could not end well. If Danners knew she'd spoken to SHIELD he wouldn't hesitate to get rid of Aspen.

"I can give you that but if you tell Danners any of this, the deal's off. Then I _will_ have to take you in."

"I won't tell him anything." Again he couldn't tell if she was lying.

"Think about it, Tolvar," he said. "I'll be waiting here at nine tonight." In the mean time he was going to follow her straight to ARTIFACT headquarters. She might be well trained to be a smuggler, but she was making a lot of rookie mistakes.

"I'll let you know then." He pushed off from her car and gave her a grim smile before leaving. Movement across the street made him turn his head. A man was quickly getting into a car, driving away down the street. Clint frowned. He had a bad feeling that someone from ARTIFACT had just seen him speaking to Aspen. He cursed himself for not being more careful then again, how was he supposed to know that ARTIFACT would be watching her home. Nothing he could do about it now.

He gave Aspen a head start before following. The tracker was still active, and he smiled at how easy this was. He realized he was already planning out what he would do first to train her but that was assuming she agreed to join SHIELD and that he got assigned as her SO. He liked her. Last night it might have been painful to admit, but she'd had a rough life like him. She deserved a second shot at life.

He parked a mile away once the tracker stopped moving. The walk through the dry desert wasn't ideal, but in the end it was well worth it. A huge factory building rose up before him surrounded by a tall, electrified fence. ARTIFACT headquarters. He called up SHIELD and gave them his coordinates before moving in. He found a weak spot at the side of the building where the security cameras didn't focus in and the guards ignored. In the middle of nowhere, they had the illusion of safety. Clearly they'd never met Hawkeye. Once he'd bypassed the gate, he set to placing detonators outside. It would give him and Aspen the perfect distraction to escape the building if everything played out the way he hoped it would.

He gripped his bow and aimed a specialized arrow at the top of the building. It turned into a grappling hook and he climbed up to the roof. It took a few moments to find the door leading into the building. The girl's signal was coming from the basement. He wondered what she was doing down there. Something about it raised his suspicions. He found the stairs and took them down to the very bottom of the building. He readied his bow but there was no one in the basement. Locked glass doors barred his way. He rattled the door. He could break the glass but he had a feeling that would trigger an alarm. A sickly sweet smell was coming from inside the room, and Aspen's signal was strong. She was somewhere in there, and if he didn't get to her soon, she might be dead. He glanced up and found a vent. An exploding tipped arrow made short order of the grate, and he pulled himself in. It was tight, but wide enough for him to crawl. He went as quickly as he could go, winding around the room until he was behind it. He saw the girl below. She looked ready to pass out. He turned his body in the tight space and kicked the bars as hard as he could until the metal grate flew open. Pulling his shirt over his nose, he dropped down into the room and grabbed the girl. From somewhere up above a jolt made the building rumble. His distractions were working.

"Hey, I gotcha. You're gonna be alright," he said to Aspen. Her eyes shut as she lost consciousness, and he knew he had limited time. He realized it would be impossible to go back through the vents with her. Alarms be damned. He shot another exploding arrow at the glass door and another until it shattered. Grabbing Aspen in his arms, he ran with her up to the next floor where the air was fresh. He didn't have time to wait for Aspen to wake up on her own, so he gave her a sharp slap to the face. Her eyes shot open. "You!" she accused.

He smiled grimly. "Me. I just saved you down there, so you might want to be grateful."

"Danners is trying to kill me," Aspen said, her voice weak. "I was so stupid. My aunt warned me…" She put her face in her hands. "Why?"

"Danners is evil. You don't know enough to scratch the surface of ARTIFACT, just the lies he's fed you. Danners has always been after your parents' work. I tried to tell you. Danners realized that you were going to figure it out sooner or later. You might be naïve, but you're not dumb. He knows that."

"How did you know to follow? I thought we were meeting tonight."

"I thought he might try to pull something like this. I realized after you left that we'd been seen talking. Danners knows all about SHIELD. He wouldn't want to risk you giving away ARTIFACT's secrets if you agreed to join." Another jolt rocked the building. "We need to get you out of here. I set off some detonators outside to keep them busy. I need to get something out of Danners's office before we go."

"What?" She looked up at him curiously.

"Classified, sorry," he said, shrugging. He stood and held out a hand, hauling her to her feet. "If you join my organization, I might reconsider."

"After this, I'm done with ARTIFACT." He was glad to hear it.

"Deal. Where's his office?" he asked.

"This way." Aspen led him through the hallways occasionally passing ARTIFACT employees. No one seemed too concerned with either Clint or Aspen though. They seemed to be running away from something which didn't bode well. When they reached the office, Aspen hesitated outside the door. Clint lifted his gun and nodded for her to open it. She took a deep breath and swung it open.

The office was empty when they entered. Aspen closed the doors behind them and Clint said, "Keep a look out," while be began shuffling through the papers in Danners's desk. "Got it," Clint said, tucking a folder into his jacket.

"My parents' work?" Aspen asked looking hopeful.

"He has it?" That was not good.

"Someone stole it from my aunt. She thought the people worked for Danners. I should have listened to her…"

"No time for regret. If Danners has it then that's bad, but right now we need to get out of here. I called for backup, but right now my priority is getting you to safety." He urged Aspen toward the window.

The sound of shattering glass stopped them. "What was that?" Aspen asked.

"They're taking down the building. They know they've been compromised. SHIELD will be swarming this place when they get here." He went over to one of the windows and kicked out the glass until the hole was big enough to fit through.

"We're six stories up, are you crazy?" Aspen asked, giving him a wide-eyed look.

Clint shook his head, pulling his bow off his back. "Not crazy. This is the fastest way out." He notched an arrow and motioned for her to come over. He aimed at the outside of the building adjacent to them and shot. The arrow transformed, turning into an anchor and attaching itself to the wall. A thin line ran back to the bow. Clint attached the end of the line to the ceiling using a similar anchor.

"We do this together," he said, holding out an arm. Aspen came over to him, and he wrapped his arm around her waist. She put her arm around his shoulder, looking worried. He hooked the bow around the fine wire so that they could glide down to the ground.

"Is that wire strong enough for both of us?" Aspen asked nervously.

"It'll hold a lot more weight than the both of us," he assured her. "Hold on." They stepped up onto the windowsill and then jumped. Aspen threw her other arm around Clint as they streaked downward, holding on for dear life. When they were close to the ground, Clint unhooked his bow and they landed hard, rolling to their feet.

"My car," Aspen said. They sprinted toward it across the parking lot, but before they could get too far, gun shots rang out. They dove behind the black sedan nearest to them. "Great, now they're shooting at us." Aspen peered out from behind the car. "Can we make it?" she asked.

Clint found her car. It was across the lot, but fortunately for them there were a lot of cars to shield themselves behind on the way there. "In steps," he said. "One car at a time." He readied himself, tightening his grip on his bow. "Ready?"

She gave him a curt nod. Then they ran for it, diving behind the next car as a shower of ammo came flying after them. One hit the tire and the car sunk a little lower. "Do you do this a lot?" Aspen asked, glancing over at Clint. He shrugged.

"It's kind of part of my job," he told her. "And ARTIFACT definitely hates SHIELD."

"What is your job exactly?"

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you."

"I said I'd join your organization and besides, you promised you wouldn't kill me," she said. A bullet ricocheted off the car next to them. "Although they might do the job for you."

"Next car." They ran for it, ducking down.

"This isn't as easy as it looks in the movies," Aspen said. There was pain in her voice, and Clint looked down to see that a bullet had grazed her arm. Her shirtsleeve was growing red with blood. Her car was close now. As long as they didn't get hit again, they'd make it.

"One more run," Clint told her. "Ready?" He glanced at her bleeding arm again.

"Ready." They ran in unison, Aspen clicking the automatic lock button on her keys and Clint flinging himself into the passenger side. Aspen revved the engine and tore out of the lot. Gunshots followed them, bouncing off the side of the car. She sped toward the gates. "They're closed!"

"Hang on." Clint rolled down the window and stuck his bow out. He had to lean half his body out of the car to draw back, but he managed to notch an arrow. He shot it straight at the middle of the metal gates. As soon as the arrow hit its mark, the gates exploded, flying off their hinges. They were still in the air when Aspen's Audi streaked through the now unhindered entrance. Clint pulled himself and his bow back into the car and shut the window. Several ARTIFACT SUVs were pursing them, Clint noticed as he looked back. ARTIFACT headquarters was now in flames and the ARTIFACT employees were making a run for it. A moment later the building exploded. The rubble was flung into the road, and Aspen jerked the wheel to avoid it. There wasn't going to be anything left at this rate. SHIELD would be lucky to get anything on ARTIFACT besides burnt up filing cabinets and melted computers.

"My aunt!" Aspen cried out suddenly.

"No time to get her, we're being followed," Clint told her.

"We need to get her! Danners will hurt her if we don't. I don't trust his promises anymore."

"At least you learned something. They'll know you're going there though. There might be someone waiting."

"I don't care! She's family," Aspen half shouted.

Clint frowned and then gave a curt nod. "If you're fast, and I mean_ fast_, I can cover you while you get her."

"I'll be fast." She sped down the desert road, slowing only when she reached the city. The SUVs following them had fallen back in the lunch hour traffic, but they weren't going to lose them. Aspen screeched to a halt in front of the house Clint had seen her enter the night before and leapt out of the car. Clint moved over to the driver's side, pulling out a gun and rolling down the window. He could shoot out the tires if the SUVs got there before Aspen and her aunt got out.

Aspen left the house a second later though, her aunt nowhere in sight. "Go!" she said, flinging herself into the car. The SUVs turned the corner as she shut the door

Clint stepped on the gas, and they were speeding away, the SUVs in hot pursuit. "She wasn't there?" he asked. Aspen looked upset.

"She was gone but she left a note. She told me to get to safety and that she could take care of herself."

"She can, you know." If she'd worked for SHIELD, she'd know how to go on the run. He peered in the rearview mirror. To his surprise the SUVs had stopped chasing them.

"Why does everyone seem to know more about my family than I do?" Aspen asked with a laugh that verged on hysterical.

"Because you've been protected your entire life. That isn't a bad thing."

"It feels like it. I feel like I have no idea of who I am or who my parents were."

"Well that's about to change because I'm not ever going to lie to you, Aspen," Clint assured her. "SHIELD is alright. They gave me a second chance when I needed it. You made the right choice."

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"New York," Clint told her. "Welcome to SHIELD."


End file.
